Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts Part 45

Difference plus or minus in your weight...............

Height in inches at end of period.....................

Standard weight for height and age....................

Difference plus or minus in your weight.............

If growth is shown what rate is this per month?.......

Standard?...........................................

RIGHT HEIGHT AND WEIGHT FOR GIRLS

Hght. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 ins. yrs. yrs. yrs. yrs. yrs. yrs. yrs. yrs. yrs.

47 53 48 55 56 49 57 58 50 59 60 61 51 62 63 64 52 65 66 67 53 68 68 69 70 54 70 71 72 73 55 73 74 75 76 77 56 77 78 79 80 81 57 81 82 83 84 85 86 58 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 59 89 90 91 93 94 95 96 98 60 94 95 97 99 100 102 104 106 61 99 101 102 104 106 108 109 111 62 104 106 107 109 111 113 114 115 63 109 111 112 113 115 117 118 119 64 115 117 118 119 120 121 122 65 117 119 120 122 123 124 125 66 119 121 122 124 126 127 128 67 124 126 127 128 129 130 68 126 128 130 132 133 134 69 129 131 133 135 136 137 70 134 136 138 139 140 71 138 140 142 143 144 72 145 147 148 149

PREPARED BY DR. THOMAS D. WOOD

About what a Girl should gain each month AGE AGE 8 to 11 8 oz. 14 to 16 8 oz.

11 to 14 12 oz. 16 to 18 4 oz.

Weights and measures should be taken without shoes and in only the usual indoor clothes.

Used by courtesy of the Child Health Organization, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

FOOTNOTE:

[3] Courtesy of William C. Deming, M.D.

SECTION XII

SETTING-UP EXERCISES FOR GIRL SCOUTS

Our bodies are like machines that need frequent oiling and testing to see that all parts are working right.

Or they are like instruments that must be tuned before they are played.

If this is not done, the machinery gets rusty and clogged, or the instrument gets out of tune and makes horrid noises.

That is the way it is with our bodies; our muscles and joints should be bent and stretched every day to take the kinks out, and keep them strong and flexible.

The best way is to tune up every morning for just a few minutes before you put on your clothes, and then again at night to rest the tired parts and exercise the parts that have not been used, so you can even things up.

=The Right Position=

First of all try to stand in the right position.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Stand with the feet side by side, a few inches apart and pointed straight ahead. Many people think you should turn out your toes because they think it looks better. This is not natural. If you stand on a step with one foot even with the edge, and let the other foot hang over the step below, it will hang parallel with the foot you are standing on.

That is the way it is meant to go, and people who turn out their toes do so much walking sideways that they have to travel much farther than if they kept their feet pointed in the direction they want to go.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Then your legs should come up straight from your ankles; don't stand either on your heels or your toes, but right over the highest part of the arch, which is the strongest part, and best fitted to bear your weight when you are standing still, and brings your hips up to just the right place to hold your body.

In the lower part of your body are some big heavy bones shaped somewhat like a bowl. This bowl is balanced on the top of your legs, and holds most of your organs. If this bowl is balanced just right, the organs remain in place, the way they are meant to be, but if it is not balanced right, the contents are tipped so that they would come tumbling out if the muscles intended for other work did not hold them in. This is hard on these muscles which have their own work to do, and if they are used to hold up things that should keep their own balance, sooner or later they give way, and there is a sad accident, or a general slump. Then instead of saying, "That foolish person always stood in the wrong position and of course her insides got out of place," we say, "Poor dear so-and-so has given out from overwork and has acute indigestion, or a 'floating kidney,' or 'a bad liver.' How could it have happened?"

If your underpinning is all right it is not difficult to be straight above.

Let your shoulders hang easily in a straight line under your ears, in the position they will naturally take if from side stretch (fig. 3) the arms drop easily to the side. _Don't arch your chest and throw your shoulders back!_ This is not a slump and does not mean to let your back bow out. If your shoulders are easy you can straighten your back and your head will balance itself, and there you are: a straight upstanding Scout, ready for what comes next.

Remember: a) Feet pointing straight ahead.

b) Body balanced on legs coming up straight from ankles.

c) Shoulders easy under ears.

This gives a straight line from top of head through shoulders and hips to between ankles.

=General Rules=

Stretch to the very tips of your middle fingers--stretching makes your muscles flexible.

Breathe in as arms rise and out as they fall.

Stand tall.

Sit tall.

Remember the straight line that comes from the top of your head down to between your ankles.

Keep limber, don't let your knees grow stiff.

Sit crosslegged on the floor. Sit on your heels.

Rise without help from your hands.

=The Exercises=

Now tune up: begin by repeating each exercise four times; then increase to 8, 12, or 16; never more than 16.

1. Stretch arms down (fig. 1). Swing them forward and stretch up and slightly forward (fig. 2), breathing deep. Let them fall breathing out. Do this slowly counting, up 1 down 2.

2. From (fig. 1) swing arms forward and up (fig.

2) and out to side stretch (fig. 3) coming to full deep breath and stretch as far as you can--count 3. Up 1--side 2--down 3--breathing out. Don't hurry, take time to breathe deep.